7 Methods That Will Keep Your Staff Positive during a Recession
Monday, November 30, 2009 at 04:29PM Your employees are human. In a recession they worry about their jobs. They’re concerned about the future of the business too. And the doom and gloom merchants don’t help. Their negativity can hurt your business. Take the lead and create positive expectations.
1. Be Positive. If you feel negative about your business, your staff will know. They’ll notice your body language, your tone of voice and general demeanor. Keep calm and, as the old song says, “accentuate the positive”.
2. Be Honest. Tell the truth. Tell your staff exactly how you believe your business could be affected by the recession. Don’t gild the lily. But make sure you point out how you can limit the effects of the recession on your business and the opportunities it offers to staff. Ask them how they believe they can help.
3. Set Specific Priorities And Targets. Tell your staff what you’re trying to achieve and how it will be measured. Include short, medium and long term goals. Make sure that priorities are crystal clear to staff so they stay very focused.
4. Have a Positive Plan and Share It. Explain to your people what you propose to do and why to achieve your targets. Explain how they’ll be involved, how it will affect their jobs and the broad adjustments they’ll have to make.
5. Structure Input, Participation and Co-operation. The important word is “structure”. It’s not enough to seek employee help. Take the lead. Put in place systems and processes that require their input and participation. Show that you value their inputs. Look for ways to eliminate friction, real or imagined, between different areas of your business.
6. Have Staff “Own” Changes. Structuring participation and co-operation is just the start. To survive a recession, staff need to feel that they own what they’re doing to help the business survive short term and prevail long term. Offer rewards to staff who are successful and make sure their successes are publicly acknowledged.
7. Review and Reveal. Establish a regular review schedule to check the success of your combined efforts. Ensure your staff knows what it says. Be open. Set up some way of publicly monitoring progress. Institute a “warning system” so staff can inform you of potential problems. Be prepared to change if you’re failing to progress adequately.
Conclusion: Firm and decisive leadership is essential in a recession. Only you can provide it. But only your staff can create real benefits from such leadership. The positive expectations you create will help that to occur.
About the Author:
If you’ve enjoyed this article, you might like to read my FREE, 42 page Special Report, “5 Proven Methods For Improving Employee Performance On The Job”. It’s yours to keep. You’ll also get a free bonus eBook about setting Performance Standards for employees. Just go to http://www.leonnoone.com and they’re yours. I work with small-medium business managers to improve on job staff performance without using training.
Reader Comments (1)
1-3 are my favourites. Being negative not only shows to the staff but it often makes them think that things are much worse than they actually are... which leads to being honest and communicating priorities and targets. If staff have a tangible idea of what needs to be done then they feel empowered instead of helpless, and they feel involved in making things work.
IMO, not enough companies work to these guidelines. They need to stop operating a closed door policy; doing so will surely result in failure and disappointment all round.